Selling “Healthy” Radium Products With Science: A Multimodal Analysis of Marketing in Sweden, 1910–1940

We study the marketing of radioactive products in Sweden from 1910 to 1940, using a dataset newspaper and magazine advertisements. use multimodal critical discourse analysis show how marketers harnessed meaning potentials language semiotic resources embed radium discourses science technological development, thus convince consumers its health benefits. find that canny continuously colonized, shaped, remarketed response greater scientific knowledge growing safety concerns. These techniques highlight challenges distinguishing legitimate/illegitimate applications discoveries when entrepreneurialism move at same pace.